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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567289">ghosts of soldiers dead</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/leias_left_hair_bun/pseuds/leias_left_hair_bun'>leias_left_hair_bun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tumblr Asks (: [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Minor Character Death, also there is? some gore?, here we are, idk why i like hurting echo so much when he's one of my very favorites but, lots of angst and scary nightmares, not a lot but there are brief descriptions of dead characters so, please don't read if that's triggering</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:41:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,086</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/leias_left_hair_bun/pseuds/leias_left_hair_bun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>echo is haunted by memories of his dead squadmates, but at least he's still got fives</p>
<p>featuring: echo having nightmares, beefy boys trying to squeeze into the same tiny bunk, and fives being the best brother ever, as usual</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tumblr Asks (: [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992391</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>ghosts of soldiers dead</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Fives? Cutup?”</p>
<p>Absently, Echo noticed that his voice sounded oddly distant, as if he was hearing his own voice through a bad commlink. He tried to force his lungs to expand but to no avail; his breathing was getting shallower by the minute.</p>
<p>“Droidbait? Hevy?”</p>
<p>Did his voice sound even smaller than it had before? Echo shook his head to clear it and found that he could hardly move it at all. He pushed himself to take another step down the corridor. Why was it so quiet? And why wasn’t his HUD working? His peripheral vision was hopelessly blurred and dark and all he could seem to focus on was the white light coming from the room at the end of the corridor.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, why was he wearing his helmet? No one wore helmets inside the station; if Hevy caught him with it on he’d laugh at him for sure. Echo thought that he wouldn’t mind a dose of Hevy’s sarcasm right now, anything to break the stifling silence. Something was <em>wrong.</em></p>
<p>Somehow, Echo knew that if he could just into that bright room, he’d be alright. Try as he might, though, he could barely get his legs to shuffle forward even a few centimeters at a time.</p>
<p>“Fives! Cutup!”</p>
<p>He was whispering now, he realized, and at some point he’d stopped breathing entirely. Panicked, he collapsed onto his knees, tears pricking at his eyes, but just as his vision began to go black, a wave of light flashed over him and his lungs finally filled with air.</p>
<p>Echo jumped to his feet - when had his limbs started working again? - and took in the scene with dismay. He was in the bright room now, but the light was no longer bright nor white. It was bloody red and dull gold, and though it was impossibly silent, Echo knew it was fire.</p>
<p>The station was on fire, and nobody had thought to warn him. They’d all run for their lives, probably taken a transport off of this cursed moon, and they’d <em>left </em>him. Echo ripped his helmet off and hurled it against the wall in frustration, bitter tears coursing down his face now. What was he going to do now? He’d never been alone before.</p>
<p>And then he heard something - finally heard something. It sounded like a whimper, coming from somewhere next to one of the consoles. Had another one of his <em>vode </em>been left behind?</p>
<p>Echo turned and found himself suddenly on his knees next to - no, it couldn’t be.</p>
<p>“Hevy?”</p>
<p>Hevy’s face was was <em>wrong</em>. His eyes were bloodshot and his tattoos obscured by blood, and terror was distorting his features. Echo’s heart began to pound.</p>
<p>“Echo,” Hevy whispered, and Echo realized dimly that he had one of Hevy’s hands in his. “Echo, you gotta stay back, you gotta stay with Fives.”</p>
<p>“Huh? No, Hevy, I’ve gotta get you outta here. Everyone else is gone, including Fives.”</p>
<p>“Gone.” Hevy repeated mournfully. Then, louder - “Gone.” Echo reeled back in horror as Hevy’s lips peeled back in a mad grin to reveal bloodstained teeth. “Everyone is gone. Look.”</p>
<p>Echo looked and immediately wished he hadn’t.</p>
<p>Cutup swung limply outside the window, dangled from the jaws of some monstrous creature. Droidbait was pinned to a console with a vibroblade, his head flopping to the side at a horribly unnatural angle. O’Niner was sprawled on the floor next to his shattered helmet. And Fives -</p>
<p>“Fives!” Echo gasped and sat up, banging his head against the bunk above him.</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>The bunk above him. He wasn’t on Rishi, he was in his bunk on the <em>Dominator</em>. </p>
<p>Echo squeezed his eyes shut and bent over, wrapping his arms around himself and taking in huge gulps of air. He shivered, noticing gratefully that he could feel temperature again and hear the quiet sounds of the ship around him.</p>
<p>“Echo?” </p>
<p>It was Fives. Kriff, he must have woken him up.</p>
<p>“Echo, you with me?.”</p>
<p>A hand grasped Echo’s shoulder and shook it gently, and Echo grudgingly opened his eyes. Fives was peering at him in the dim light, concern written on his face.</p>
<p>“Just a nightmare,” Echo grunted. “’S fine.”</p>
<p>“Didn’t sound like it,” Fives said and he slid into the bunk, pushing Echo against the wall to make room. “I heard you crying before you woke up, <em>vod</em>.“</p>
<p>Echo clapped a hand to his cheek and sure enough, it came away wet. He groaned and shut his eyes again.</p>
<p>“Sorry I woke <em>you</em> up.”</p>
<p>It took so long for Fives’ response to come that Echo started to think he’d fallen asleep.</p>
<p>“Was it Rishi?” Fives finally asked, his voice soft.</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Echo swallowed. “It’s always Rishi, lately.”</p>
<p>“I guessed as much.”</p>
<p>Abandoning his pride, Echo rolled onto his side and buried his head in Fives’ shoulder like a little kid. “I miss them.”</p>
<p>Fives wrapped his arms around Echo and held him tightly, rubbing clumsy circles into his back. Fives had always had trouble with controlling his strength, Echo thought, but right now he didn’t mind. The rough drag of Fives’ hands was grounding.</p>
<p>“D’you remember the day Cutup started using that accent?” Fives asked suddenly.</p>
<p>Echo chuckled weakly. “Yeah, he heard someone talking like that on a datatape and thought it was cool.”</p>
<p>“Thought it’d make him stand out.” Fives chuckled, too. “He didn’t need to talk funny to stand out, though.”</p>
<p>“Wasn’t just him; we all wanted to stand out. We wanted to - to make sure we’d be remembered,” Echo said, and Fives sighed.</p>
<p>“Yeah. We did.”</p>
<p>Echo shifted his head so he could breathe more freely. “I guess it worked. I’m not gonna forget him anytime soon.”</p>
<p>“Mm-hm. Me neither.” Fives switched to just resting his hands on Echo’s back. “We’re not gonna forget of our <em>vode,</em> funny accent or not.”</p>
<p>“I miss them, though,” Echo said again. “I don’t think I’m gonna stop missing them.”</p>
<p>“That’s okay,” Fives said. “I won’t either; we’ll miss them together, yeah?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>Echo closed his eyes and listened to Fives’ steady breathing. The worst of his nightmare was fading from his memory already and he felt himself relaxing completely in his brother’s arms. There was a time, years ago, when the various members of Domino would climb into each other’s pods on a regular basis, and Echo found himself feeling immensely grateful that Fives was willing to continue the tradition.</p>
<p>“I’m glad I’ve still got you,” he muttered, and Fives tightened his arms around him.</p>
<p>“Me, too, <em>vod.</em> Me, too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is a request from @sacred-things from tumblr (: she asked for soft/sad echo and i couldn't help but throw a bit of fives in as well bc i love the domino twins very much indeed (':</p></blockquote></div></div>
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